Dr. Straub's curriculum vita

Dr. Straub's Bio

Director of a large scale technical assistance center for the U. S. Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, Dr. Straub demonstrated successful leadership and negotiation skills with the national Character Education TA Center. A portfolio of extensive professional experience in substance abuse prevention and healthy youth development includes serving the Higher Education Center as faculty for training its Associates in environmental strategies and systems change, and as a consultant to evaluate its training and TA modules; nearly 20 years as faculty, senior administrator, and staff member for teacher preparation, research methodologies, and multiple substance abuse programs at the University of Louisville, East Carolina University and Bellarmine University; her expertise in program planning is strengthened by the frequent role as researcher and evaluator of such programs. Outcomes include finding solutions to campus substance abuse and violence, helping practitioners design and execute effective, efficient prevention efforts, e.g., assisted U. Maryland team develop a successful proposal (2007-09) to investigate health providers’ involvement with focused attention and a Web-based intervention to reduce drinking for sanctioned students. Part of the research community that updates progress on implementing the NIAAA’s Tiers of Effectiveness, she studies organizational behavior and understands barriers in large educational systems, designing strategies that involve broad representation of all school and community constituencies. Passion for assisting school districts and the higher education community with these difficult problems is tempered with requisite patience of understanding well the legislation, regulatory environments and funding agency goals that come with accountability.

Educational Background

• Doctorate in Education, Educational Counseling and Student Development, University of Louisville, 1997
• MAT, Health Promotion, University of Louisville
• BS, Physical Education; Nutrition and Fitness, University of Louisville

Teaching Areas

• Research Methodology for School Leaders
• Alcohol and Other Drug Education
• Consumer Health
• Health Risk Analysis

Honors & Awards

• Outstanding service and contributions to CETAC, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, 2009
• Outstanding contributions to Advancing the Plan, Virginia’s Five-Year Strategic Plan, Governor’s Office for Substance Abuse Prevention, Virginia, 2004
• Selected as a national expert in education and prevention by U.S. Department of Transportation to train six states in Rapid Response facilitated training of trainers to reduce assess community problems and plan strategic solutions to reduce underage drinking and driving, 2002-2008
• Harold E. Hughes Exceptional Services Award – Exceptional Rural Community Award for the Partners in Rural Prevention Project, National Rural Alcohol and Drug Abuse Network, 1997

Professional Memberships

• National Rural Alcohol & Drug Abuse Network
• Eta Sigma Gamma Honorary for Health Educators
• Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society, (VP-Special Projects; VP-Alumni Relations)
• Co-Chair, National Meeting to Reduce Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse and Violence Among College Students, U. S. Department of Education, 2002

Selected Publications

• Straub, BW, Pokorni, J, Cohen, AY, Sangpukdee, AP, Brazell, KC, & Wilson, C (2009). Interim analysis of findings: The partnerships in character education program: A summary report, 2002-08. Washington DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Safe and Drugs-Free Schools (OSDFS).
• Cohen, AY, Straub, BW, Murphy, B (in press). Preface. In Corrigan, M, Higgins-D’Alessandro, A, & Brown, PM, Eds., The case for prosocial education: Developing caring, capable citizens. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD).
• Straub, BW, contributing ed., Nucci, L, Colby, A, Damon, W, Fluker, W, Jolls, T, & Moore, K (2009). Emerging issues in character education: Commissioned papers by leading researchers in the field. Washington DC: U.S. Department of Education, OSDFS.
• Straub, BW & Sangpukdee, AP (eds.) (2008). Partnerships in character education state pilot projects: Lessons learned. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools.